Google has won a patent on a new way to unlock a device and access applications.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Google a patent on "Alternative Unlocking Patterns." The technology describes a method by which users would create several different unlocking patterns that would pertain to a particular action. Upon completing that pattern input, the device would perform the predetermined action.

According to Google's patent, the company envisions a way in which users would open up applications, check for new calls, or perform other actions through the use of the patterns. Currently, software allows for different unlocking patterns, but all they do is open up the handset's software. Google's technology would unlock the device and bring people to a certain place within the software.

Here is how Google describes the patent:

The stored unlocking patterns are associated with respective actions that are performed upon completion of the respective unlocking patterns. The unlocking patterns are associated with a same level of unlocked security access to the computing system. The computing system responds by unlocking the computing system and performing the action that is associated with the matching unlocking pattern.

Google doesn't say in the patent whether it'll integrate the technology into Android. As with other major companies, Google applies for and is awarded patents on a wide array of technologies. In many cases, those technologies don't ever launch.

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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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